The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay ignition switch

can someone tell me how many positions a 1953 3100 ignition switch has. seems like mine has off and on. should there be one for accessorey.

no accessory position until the V8 years, yours is correct

Bill

If it is the same as a "52". straight up is on. Key to the left is off and to the right is off. Either right or left, I think left, the key can be removed and still will be able to turn to the ON position. Turn the other way, I think right, remove the key and the ignition switch is locked.

You've got it correct, Bart.

the standard ignition has only two positions
left-off, straight-on. both terminals are hot in the on position.
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this is the type of ignition that lets you operate without the key
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here are the positions from Brad Allens site
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you would not want to leave your ignition on very long without running, this could damage your coil
good luck

Ok, Just thought it was odd. The reason it came to my attention was when i pushed down on the foot starter it cranked over, i looked at the switch and it was in the off position. It's not supposed to do that is it.

Hy basham, you can activate the foot starter anytime you want, key in off, key in on, truck in gear, truck in neutral. If your truck has been converted to twelve volts, and has a resistor bypass circuit the engine may even try to start, but it will quit when you release the starter pedal, hope that helps.

ok, that does help. I just figured i had a wire in the wrong place. I was going to go out tonight and try to retrace a few of them. Thanks.

basham, there's a couple reasons it's important to understand how the foot start/ignition works - one is the starter is always "hot" because the battery connects directly to it, the foot pedal is a mechanical switch that uses that power to activate it at any time, so when you're fiddling under the hood, some 'helper' sitting in the truck can cause the engine to start cranking, stay aware!! the other is that it's real easy to 'hot wire' by simply putting a jumper from the battery to the coil, push the pedal and make away with the truck the ignition switch simply completes that circuit from the battery to the coil, and any accessories inside - the simpler times before anti-theft devices

Bill

This is all good info to know. I've never driven the truck nor did it run when i bought it. So i have no experience with one of these. I restored a 52 styleline several yrs ago but it was an automatic with push button start on the dash. So many things were different. Thanks again for the info.